Pro Hearthstone Player Suspended by Blizzard for Voicing Support for Hong Kong Protests - MMORPG.com

System · October 2019

Pro Hearthstone Player Suspended by Blizzard for Voicing Support for Hong Kong Protests - MMORPG.com

Pro Hearthstone player, Chung "Blitzchung" Ng Wai, has been suspended by Blizzard after he voiced support for the ongoing protests in Hong Kong.

Read the full story here

IceAge · October 2019

Well deserved ban! Keep politics, right or wrong, out of the games please!

Tiller · October 2019

IceAge said:

Well deserved ban! Keep politics, right or wrong, out of the games please!

Slapshot1188 · October 2019

Say whatever you want on your own time but do not use a company or leagues platform as a mechanism for voicing your personal views.

I totally agree with what they guy said, but it was not appropriate to say during that stream.

NorseGod · October 2019

Maybe I missed it, so please correct me.

Who owns that channel?

H0urg1ass · October 2019

The Reddit thread on this blew the hell up. Thousands claim to be canceling their subs to "x,y,z" Blizzard game and switching to competitors.

I guess we'll see on the the next quarterly statement how full of shit they are or not.

Apparently a rival card game that I can't remember the name of right now, offered the player a spot in their pro league and is paying him the prize money that Blizzard is refusing to pay the player now.

Quizzical · October 2019

Would someone please explain the context for the interview? Was this some interview arranged and sponsored by Blizzard, so that the contents could reasonably be inferred to be endorsed by Blizzard? Or was it something that Blizzard had nothing to do with, but the guy just went out and gave an interview to some people on his own time?

NorseGod · October 2019

PurplePepe · October 2019

H0urg1ass said:

The Reddit thread on this blew the hell up. Thousands claim to be canceling their subs to "x,y,z" Blizzard game and switching to competitors.

I guess we'll see on the the next quarterly statement how full of shit they are or not.

Apparently a rival card game that I can't remember the name of right now, offered the player a spot in their pro league and is paying him the prize money that Blizzard is refusing to pay the player now.

Must be a last, desperate effort by Valve to inject life into Artifact.

PurplePepe · October 2019

Slapshot1188 said:

Say whatever you want on your own time but do not use a company or leagues platform as a mechanism for voicing your personal views.

I totally agree with what they guy said, but it was not appropriate to say during that stream.

Ever heard of an athlete named Jesse Owens?

Renoaku · October 2019

https://twitter.com/i/status/1180954142396710912

^ What was removed by Blizzard :O

IceAge · October 2019

Quizzical said:

Would someone please explain the context for the interview? Was this some interview arranged and sponsored by Blizzard, so that the contents could reasonably be inferred to be endorsed by Blizzard? Or was it something that Blizzard had nothing to do with, but the guy just went out and gave an interview to some people on his own time?

Of course it was Blizzard's Show. Is their tournament , their rules, so nothing, but absolutely nothing is wrong with the ban, but just the "angry democratic masses" which, from their point of view, breaking the rules because of...freedom of speech is OK.

NorseGod · October 2019

IceAge said:

Quizzical said:

Would someone please explain the context for the interview? Was this some interview arranged and sponsored by Blizzard, so that the contents could reasonably be inferred to be endorsed by Blizzard? Or was it something that Blizzard had nothing to do with, but the guy just went out and gave an interview to some people on his own time?

Of course it was Blizzard's Show. Is their tournament , their rules, so nothing, but absolutely nothing is wrong with the ban, but just the "angry democratic masses" which, from their point of view, breaking the rules because of...freedom of speech is OK.

That wasn't his question.

Who is the owner of the stream channel? Because plenty of people stream and commentate tournaments. I can't find a citation anywhere. Have you? Can you post it, please?

moosecatlol · October 2019

They love to shoot themselves in the foot, don't they? I love Blitzchung's response to all of this. "I spent 4 years of my life on Hearthstone, so I only lost 4 years of my life, but if HK loses it will be forever."

If US Senators are @'ing you on twitter for your bad call, you know you fucked up.

Blizzcon this year is gonna be fucking spicy.

IceAge · October 2019

NorseGod said:

IceAge said:

Quizzical said:

Would someone please explain the context for the interview? Was this some interview arranged and sponsored by Blizzard, so that the contents could reasonably be inferred to be endorsed by Blizzard? Or was it something that Blizzard had nothing to do with, but the guy just went out and gave an interview to some people on his own time?

Of course it was Blizzard's Show. Is their tournament , their rules, so nothing, but absolutely nothing is wrong with the ban, but just the "angry democratic masses" which, from their point of view, breaking the rules because of...freedom of speech is OK.

That wasn't his question.

Who is the owner of the stream channel? Because plenty of people stream and commentate tournaments. I can't find a citation anywhere. Have you? Can you post it, please?

The stream WAS in behalf of Blizzard. How hard is for you guys to understand this?!

https://twitter.com/InvenGlobal/status/1180954142396710912

It clearly shows that they were in the Blizzard's Studio and Streaming under Blizzard's name. The guy who is interviewer ( as far as I can see ), is from home (?), as it seems this is the norm this days, for players to play from their home on qualification tournaments.

Nevertheless, he was under Blizzard's Tournament rules at that time.

So yea, that channel is Blizzard channel, or at least for the time it streamed the Blizzard Tournament.

Harafnir · October 2019

Wait.... Don't you guys have phones?

Asheram · October 2019

Seems china handing out bans all over, like the NBA and South Park.

Kyleran · October 2019

PurplePepe said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Say whatever you want on your own time but do not use a company or leagues platform as a mechanism for voicing your personal views.

I totally agree with what they guy said, but it was not appropriate to say during that stream.

Ever heard of an athlete named Jesse Owens?

Yep. Some resemblance to this situation I'll agree.

"After the 1936 Olympics were over, the US track and field team was scheduled to compete in Sweden. Owens, however, opted to return to the U.S. to make some money off his his hard-earned success."

"the US Olympic Committee was furious that Owens had returned home to capitalize on his success. They stripped him of his amateur status and banned him from further competitions."

You break the rules, you pay the consequences.

https://www.historynet.com/really-happened-jesse-owens-real-story-behind-stephen-hopkins-new-film-race-starring-stephan-james.htm

IceAge · October 2019

moosecatlol said:

They love to shoot themselves in the foot, don't they? I love Blitzchung's response to all of this. "I spent 4 years of my life on Hearthstone, so I only lost 4 years of my life, but if HK loses it will be forever."

If US Senators are @'ing you on twitter for your bad call, you know you fucked up.

Blizzcon this year is gonna be fucking spicy.

You, and many other, seems that you don't realize that if Blizzard didn't act, under their own rules, it would create similar situations in the future.

Next time, we might have people asking for Trump or any-other guy for Presidency. Other time, we might have people who supports Siria regim, and so on. Do you really want to see this kind of political shit while watching games for entertainment ?!

In Football, at least in Europe, we have this exact same rules. No racism or (sensitive) political remarks. UEFA is very harsh with such remarks and are going as forward as a fine or even to suspend a team from European Competitions, or if a player is doing so, he's suspended many months.

Rules are rules. Breaking them, will create a chaos ( more or less ).

NorseGod · October 2019

IceAge said:

NorseGod said:

IceAge said:

Quizzical said:

So yea, that channel is Blizzard channel, or at least for the time it streamed the Blizzard Tournament.

Make up your mind.

Either the channel is owned by Blizzard and those two kids are paid by Blizzard, or they are not. Two kids in their moms basement, displaying a logo, and cardboard backdrop doesn't mean crap.

You haven't proven either to be true.

IF the channel is owned by Blizzard and IF those two kids got paid by Blizzard, then that player is in the wrong.

But if not, Fair Use Laws come into play, just like any media. Blizzard take their thought police practices and pound sand.

So yeah, some clarification would be nice.

IceAge · October 2019

DMKano said:

IceAge said:

Quizzical said:

Would someone please explain the context for the interview? Was this some interview arranged and sponsored by Blizzard, so that the contents could reasonably be inferred to be endorsed by Blizzard? Or was it something that Blizzard had nothing to do with, but the guy just went out and gave an interview to some people on his own time?

Of course it was Blizzard's Show. Is their tournament , their rules, so nothing, but absolutely nothing is wrong with the ban, but just the "angry democratic masses" which, from their point of view, breaking the rules because of...freedom of speech is OK.

When the rules are bullshit - they shouldn't be followed.

If that guy was yelling Pro-China stuff -do you think he would get banned?

Hell no - because it has happened before and Blizzard did nothing.

So there is a CLEAR issue here

It's about Blizzard's ties with China (5% ownership by Tencent, also Blizzard's partnership with Chinese company NetEase that not only hosts Blizzard titles in China, but is also developing Diablo Immortal) and their fear of losing MONEY if they don't suck up to Chinese censorship.

That's why this happened.

it is not about some BULLSHIT RULES

it's about China $$$$ > everything else - That's why Blizzard chose to ban 3 people - no warning, nope immediate bans.

Who acts like that? Yep China does.

Blizzard is choosing to humiliate itself - just to not lose out on $$$ from China - that is the bottom line.

YOU sign it, you obey. Else , stay away. Is simple.

Saying things like "if that guy was yelling Pro-China stuff, nothing will have happened to him" is very wrong and it goes to conspiracy theory category. It didn't say it, so we would never know. What we do know is that he breaks the rules he signed before participating in the tournament.

Is really, that simple.

Anyway, do you see what politics is making in the gaming market with this !? See how angry you are about China and their $$$$$$$$$$ ?!? Do you have the right to be that angry about them? ABSOLUTELY, but I'm here to discuss about games for fuck sake, and not yours or X, Y or even my, political views.

I stand with : Keep politics out of games not matter your views!! Go to CNN, NBC, etc if you want to discuss politics.

Alverant · October 2019

IceAge said:

Well deserved ban! Keep politics, right or wrong, out of the games please!

Every game has politics. Did you say the same thing about the Division 2 and its politics?

Tsumoro · October 2019

I understand why people will see this as censorship, but you can't just be outraged because it just happens to be something you agree with. Would the same people arguing his freedom of speech or would they equally be as supportive if he was pro-facism, or nazism or a black panther, or anti-semetic? I think we know the answer to that. They would be looking to wipe this guy of the face of the earth, they would call his sponsors, they would say he was promoting hate speech, the whole nine yards. Politics is personal and almost always divisive and I honestly understand why you wouldn't want that in your tournaments.

IceAge · October 2019

NorseGod said:

IceAge said:

NorseGod said:

IceAge said:

Quizzical said:

So yea, that channel is Blizzard channel, or at least for the time it streamed the Blizzard Tournament.

Make up your mind.

Either the channel is owned by Blizzard and those two kids are paid by Blizzard, or they are not. Two kids in their moms basement, displaying a logo, and cardboard backdrop doesn't mean crap.

You haven't proven either to be true.

IF the channel is owned by Blizzard and IF those two kids got paid by Blizzard, then that player is in the wrong.

But if not, Fair Use Laws come into play, just like any media. Blizzard take their thought police practices and pound sand.

So yeah, some clarification would be nice.

Listen, if you rent a TV station for 2 hours to ...I don't know, stream you while you eat, but you have some rules for the people who's serving you food in that 2 hours, which are also bound to you by a specific contract, and they break them, what rules will apply here?! The ones you make with the people who serves you for 2 hours, or the TV Station which also, you might have signed a contract with them to agree to your rules and you to theirs?!

Anyway, back to you. YES, that guys are paid by Blizzard, the guy with the remarks is paid by Blizzard. THE SHOW who's running is made in behalf of Blizzard.

So no, no kids in their mom's basement displaying Blizzard's logo. If that was the case, be sure they knew damn well that they can't apply their rules to them. I know you think Blizzard is stupid, but they have lawyers and such.

As a mater of fact, they didn't act immediately with their actions, and so they had plenty of time to see if they did break their rules or not :

"During the Asia-Pacific Grandmasters broadcast over the weekend there was a competition rule violation during a post-match interview, involving Blitzchung and two casters, which resulted in the removal of the match VOD replay.

Upon further review we have found the action has violated the 2019 Hearthstone Grandmasters Official Competition Rules section 6.1 (o) and is individual behavior which does not represent Blizzard or Hearthstone Esports. 6.1 (o) is found below.

2019 HEARTHSTONE® GRANDMASTERS OFFICIAL COMPETITION RULES v1.4 p.12, Section 6.1 (o)

Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image will result in removal from Grandmasters and reduction of the player’s prize total to $0 USD, in addition to other remedies which may be provided for under the Handbook and Blizzard’s Website Terms.

Grandmasters is the highest tier of Hearthstone Esports and we take tournament rule violations very seriously. After an investigation, we are taking the necessary actions to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

Effective immediately, Blitzchung is removed from Grandmasters and will receive no prizing for Grandmasters Season 2. Additionally, Blitzchung is ineligible to participate in Hearthstone esports for 12 months beginning from Oct. 5th, 2019 and extending to Oct. 5th, 2020. We will also immediately cease working with both casters.

We’d like to re-emphasize tournament and player conduct within the Hearthstone esports community from both players and talent. While we stand by one’s right to express individual thoughts and opinions, players and other participants that elect to participate in our esports competitions must abide by the official competition rules."

I wonder how many ..un-informed people like you are out there who are blindly supporting this.

Tiller · October 2019

bestever said:

Yes don't use your freedom to speak you mind or get shit on by assholes like we see in this thread. Its sad you can't stand up for something just because your a pro something in this world. This isn't deserved and people in these forums should be ASHAMED. I think I'm done with this shit hole of a site. Its packed with nothing but TOXIC douche bags.

PLEASE DELETE MY ACCOUNT THANKS!

Hey, you do know there is a delete account button right? Go front page>click profile top left and on the right in red letters you will see --Delete Your MMORPG.com Account link.

IceAge · October 2019

DMKano said:

Rules that are fucked up should be 100% broken.

YOU don't sign if you think the rules are 100% broken. And that guy knew damn well that if he's doing that, he's breaking the rules.

So if someone is coming to you and offer you a job, you accept it even if you don't like some rules and move along with the job, or .. you accept it and then break them?!

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Pro Hearthstone Player Suspended by Blizzard for Voicing Support for Hong Kong Protests - MMORPG.com

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Pro Hearthstone Player Suspended by Blizzard for Voicing Support for Hong Kong Protests - MMORPG.com

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV